Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Where to start.........the weather wasn't ideal.....I didn't have exactly an ideal race but I hung in there to take 4th in the solo single speed category with 13 laps. A few laps from my projected 16 I had grand visions to obtain but a podium finish is a podium finish no matter how you get there in the end. It doesn't have to be pretty. The rain with the 40 mph winds stifled me a bit as I hunkered down after lap 4 to see which way it would go. Mentally I was heading south and at one point while I sat there Laura said to me "did you sign up for a 24 hour race?" I didn't even answer her as I was out the door without hesitation and pushing through the night. She was 100 percent correct. Nothing to say beyond that one comment. Done. Go. Get my butt moving. Suck it up buttercup. I had 6 laps at 12:05 am and should have been on lap 7 or 8. I was starting to beat myself up for being a wuss earlier in the evening. Nothing to do now but get to work and see how many laps I could crank out before it was over. I had some good moments and bad moments before it was said and done. I was wet, cold and nauseous at varying times but manged to keep it going. I had to change clothing a few times so my late night laps were not very impressive time wise. When daylight finally ascended on me Sunday morning I was happy to get out of the dark but it was still cold and windy. I had clawed my way back from 10th up to 6th at this point and had to keep the gas on to crawl into podium contention. I learned I was nearing 5th place and turned a fairly decent lap time on lap 11 to jump into 4th/5th place area . All I had to do was get through my 13th lap without any mishaps. I was thoroughly ecstatic with myself to get a podium finish as it has been 2 years for me to make it entirely through a 24 hour race without cracking. I kept to my game plan on not going out to hard and just riding my race without worrying about the others. At last the monkey is off my back.

Photos courtesy of Kiviok Hight and others. More pictures to follow as they trickle in from various sources.

Shawn Gregory taking top honers. Mike Melly in 2nd in black top. He usually wins this one.

One happy boy!

I had to take the Vassago out for lap 12 as the chain on the Airborne had loosened up and kept falling off. Lenny and Laura got her fixed for the next lap.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

A 4th place podium finish in solo single speed class with 13 laps. I shook some monkeys off my back to get through this one and fought to the end to get on the podium. The weather was far from perfect. I will do a full write up and post more pics later.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Well, the prepping is done and in a matter of days it will be time to man up and ride for 24 hours. Each lap consists of 16.1 miles and 1200 feet of climbing. Since December 1st I have accumulated 1440 miles on some type of bike. This includes mountain biking on dirt, road and roller miles. And living where I live that is a great feat considering the snow we have. I have travelled to Moab several times, Scottsdale for a January event and other places to rack up the training miles. It's time. Cya on the other side of 24 hours.

Monday, February 14, 2011

A great weekend. Spent lots of time around the house prepping for Old Pueblo. I needed to seriously taper down so I didn't do anything crazy as far as big miles and got out for a 50 miler down to West Fork and back on the highway with the SS cross bike and Sunday I did an easy cruise on the Vassago for another 13.5 miles to spin the legs out. I have 300 miles in the legs in the past 14 days and felt it a bit on the 50 miler. Need to rest. I drank some beer and ate pretty good. The weight is where I need it at 140. I may dip down to 138 but 140 feels just right for me. My coach tells me the same.

I spent a few hours prepping the Airborne (primary race bike) and Vassago (backup). Headsets and cranks, etc came off so I could re grease all moving parts and filled all the tires with new Stan's sealer. 6 tires takes a bit of time. Yes, I had to do Laura's as well. Took out the spare tubes in the seat bag and checked for leaks and sure enough the one I have been carrying on the Airborne had a hole. Always inflate the tubes every so often especially before the big rides. This time I placed the tubes in a plastic bag and ensured that the multi tools are not rubbing up on the tubes. I also weighed my bikes and found the Airborne to be 23.6 lbs. Not too bad for a Ti frame and heavy Mary bars. I could lose some weight if I ran carbon bars but the Mary's do well for me. Clarence bars are on the Vassago are just right and it weighs 23 lbs with the White Brothers carbon rigid fork and 2.3 SpezEskars. The Airborne I chose to keep on the MaxxisIgnitors as they have been performing well and will save the Schwalbe Racing Ralphs for later in the race season.

Cleaned out the bike tool bag. Had lots of crap I didn't need in it.

Trying to decide what to bring. Fuck it. It all goes!

My top secret peanut butter mix that Laura has been fine tuning for me. I will have 6 of these tubes filled up for the 24 hour race.

Awesome blue bird day on Saturday. The Bar Mitts are awesome when it is 20 degrees out. I can wear lightweight winter gloves and the hands do not overheat.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Moab was on tap for the weekend as I wanted time on the mountain bike before Old Pueblo. Forecast called for snow/rain but we took the chance and it paid off. It was cold and windy and the forecast for snow/rain never came and the sun was out for a majority of the weekend. The lows were around 20 degrees and the high might have hit 50 or so at best but with the wind chill added in it was probably closer to 40 or colder. Good enough for me to ride in. Laura wasn't feeling the love in the cold and opted out of riding. I was able to fit in two good rides in the Sovereign area which happens to be my favorite area to camp and ride in as you can add miles all day long without driving anywhere. Copper Ridge Road was a bit mucky on Saturday as I rode out to Klondike Bluffs but with the exception of a few snowy sections the overall riding was great. I saw two riders on Saturday and one on Sunday. It's nice having the trails to yourself. A friend of ours; Scott from Montrose was in Moab and came over on Saturday night to camp with us and we had a good time drinking beer around the campfire and Laura grilled up some tasty elk burgers and steak fries. Yummy!

And as usual I didn't take the regular camera and opted to use the Crackberry for my picture taking. Better than nothing.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

The insanity that fills my head has been going on for some time now contemplating my next race; The 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. My head spins with all types of emotions when I think of this event. It is near and dear to me (sappy I know); this will be my 8th year to race this event (4 person single speed win 2004) with this being my 7th solo outing. Where does all the time go as it just seems like yesterday I started thinking about this race with lots of time to prepare way back in November. Well, preparing is almost complete (more bags of blood booster are on there way, think plastics) and it will be game on in 2.5 weeks out in the desert north of Tucson, AZ. I've trained hard and done what 'I' think is needed to do well. As usual the competition will be stiff and I need to get my head straight as far as my strategy goes; make it through the night without burning out premature as I have successfully done the past 2 years. Ever since my best showing in the solo single speed class at The Old Pueblo in 2008, a 2nd place finish I have been on a downward spiral in the 24 hour race events. I've said it before and I will say it again; I'm turning this boat in the right direction. I may be getting older but obviously not wiser as I go out hard; try to keep in the front and crash and burn at around 2am. I will keep my head straight;I will keep my plan intact (repeat); when that shotgun sounds off at 12 noon on February 19th the mad dash to the bikes will commence and time to turn laps for 24 hours. Few scenarios compare to be at that start line and hear that shotgun go off. The adrenaline spikes through the roof, you run down that sandy, dusty road with great effort amidst the chaos of hundreds of racers to find your faithful steed that will carry you through the next 24 hours. Failure is not an option this time. Not this time. Not this time! Not this time!!!! The insanity continues..................